This season has been full of surprises from the Pittsburgh Penguins, some better than others. The news that they have decided to part ways with Grover is far and away one of the worst decisions this summer. At least from a fan’s perspective.
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In a way, the move actually makes a lot of sense. The Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to transition the pregame and post game personality into a full-time position, and Grove was unable to commit due to his position with Comcast. Therefore, the Pens cut ties with the long time broadcaster and posted the position on their site as open.
Also accompanying this news, as reported by Jason Mackey of the Trib, is that the Pittsburgh Penguins will revamp their 24/7 HD radio station to include more podcasts and vignettes. Pittsburgh has long starved for consistent hockey talk, and it sounds like the Pens may deliver on that to an extent with more coverage available to fans.
However, Bob Grove will be sorely missed by the fanbase. He has been a part of the Pens’ broadcast since 1998 and is a voice that everyone associates with the team. I never had the privilege to meet him personally, but anyone I’ve ever spoke to has nothing but great things to say about him and it’s reflected in his demeanor on the air. We at PensLabyrinth.Com wish Grover the best.
Jason Mackey also reported that as of right now, Brian Metzer’s position remains in tact but the format for his show will change. Metzer also commented on Twitter.
Not fun reading about a big chunk of your livelihood and it's future on twitter. That said, I have not been let go.
— Brian Metzer (@Brian_Metzer) August 5, 2015
Brian is also a favorite among the Pittsburgh Penguins faithful, and we can only hope that he remains with the network as his work is always enjoyable. Who knows, maybe we’ll get more of him throughout the season? One can only hope.
Many Pittsburgh fans have taken to Twitter to show how unhappy they’d be if Tim Benz were to takeover for Bob Grove, but they have nothing to worry about in that regard. Benz is now a member of TribLive and will be doing Pittsburgh Steelers post game shows, so I can’t imagine there’s any chance of him taking over the same duties with the Pens as well.
It’s a sad day in Pittsburgh as we’ll all miss hearing Grover on the radio. The Pittsburgh Penguins stated that they’d like to engage him in some way throughout the season, so let’s hope we haven’t heard the last of Bob Grove on the Pens’ broadcasts.
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